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Freezer Burn

Each year a local Baptist church holds a chicken pie sale. Usually they are terrific and I buy several to give to my children and for quick meals for my wife and me. This year I bought 10.

When I got them home and started to vacuum seal them for long-term freezing, I noticed that 8 of the 10 had signs of freezer burn. Three were severe enough to have turned the top crust snow white over half and dried out the crust enough to produce large cracks. The person in charge of the project stated it was flour but I quickly shut him down. The one we cooked that night was dry as a bone. Not up to their usual standards.

The pies were supposed to have been made 10 days prior, stored in white pie boxes and placed in their walk-in freezer.

My question to the experts; is 10 days enough to produce this kind of freezer burn or do you believe we get some of last years batch?

If it wasn't a church, I would find someone to report this to. Anyhow, I am returning them this morning.

You've been around long enough, you know freezer burn when you see it. You also know that the kind you're describing doesn't pop up in 10 days. You're just trying to be the nice guy that you are and hope that you're wrong instead of the church people. It's too bad this has happened because there's probably a few other customers that experienced the same thing. What could happen is the word will get around that the pies aren't a good as they used to be and fewer people will attend next year.

Chances are, the packaging or wrap was not air tight. Most people make the mistake by throwing hot food into the freezer,(let sit in fridge a few hours). liquid molecules actually prefer the cold. It will seek out the coldest spot and form there, leeching moisture from other parts of matter. Think of it as the ocean going out during low tide.

You can rehydrate pot pies through steam. Cover with wet towel, heat slowly in microwave. Taste is not going to be perfect but you save it. I am a church member so I ask you to please forgive them

This is the church I grew up in and was married in. My wife and I tried to attend it for a while but couldn't get past the funeral atmosphere so we moved on, we believed there had to be something more. BTW My Mother and her family have been members there since the 1920's when they moved to town. I can forgive their poor quality but will not be back to purchase more.

I agree with 99Limited, the boxes were no where sufficient enough for freezing so the cold air entered and dried out the pies. Sad, the ones in the past were so good! These were pitiful. Oh well! I took them back this morning and left them with the church receptionist whose jaw dropped when I placed them on the counter. So they got 9 back that I vacuum sealed.

And yes, I was trying hard to not blame the church. Just goes to show what happens when a non-cook sticks their fingers in the mix and fouls things up. I just can't figure out if these were actually made this year or last or if the frozen crusts were left overs from last year.

Chances are, the packaging or wrap was not air tight. Most people make the mistake by throwing hot food into the freezer,(let sit in fridge a few hours). liquid molecules actually prefer the cold. It will seek out the coldest spot and form there, leeching moisture from other parts of matter. Think of it as the ocean going out during low tide.

You can rehydrate pot pies through steam. Cover with wet towel, heat slowly in microwave. Taste is not going to be perfect but you save it. I am a church member so I ask you to please forgive them

Please... before using science to back up your answer, make sure you're right, at the very least sound somewhat scientific. Tides are not controlled by "liquid molecules seeking out the coldest spot of matter", they are controlled by the gravitational pull of the moon.

Just a personal guess on the pies is that just the crusts were from last year. If the whole pie was from last year it wouldn't taste like much of anything IMO.